Two Securities Trade Groups Part Ways

The American Securitization Forum and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association have ended their six-year relationship.

"SIFMA sought during the past year to more comprehensively integrate its affiliate, the American Securitization Forum, into SIFMA's efforts," Tim Ryan, SIFMA's chief executive, said in a letter to members Thursday. "However, the ASF was unwilling to formally integrate its activities into SIFMA, and today released a statement that it was ending its affiliation with SIFMA."

As a result, SIFMA formed the SIFMA Securitization Group to coordinate its members' views and activities on securitization issues, and ASF promoted its deputy executive director, Tom Deutsch, to the top job.

"Our members are working extremely hard to restart the markets and enhance credit availability for all Americans," Deutsch said in a release Thursday on the split. "Our new stand-alone structure will provide even more organizational focus on these functional goals."